Taking down the Patriarchy in Paris

Le récit d'un rituel sauvage au Louvre

This is another of those posts that feels really scary to share. Why ? Because it’s possibly the most detailed description I’ve ever given of how I see and work with spirit and energy “in the wild”. If this feels a little too much for you, by all means give it a miss and know I’ll be back with something else very soon. But otherwise, strap in and enjoy the story of my adventures with the Code of Hammurabi and the hope they’ve offered me in these wild times of ours!

Ask most people for the number one thing they want to see in Paris and you’ll hear some pretty similar answers: The Eiffel Tower, L’Arc de Triomphe, perhaps the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. But when I found out I was going to Paris, the answer was slightly different:

“I’d like to see one of the founding documents of patriarchy thanks.”

Actually that’s not quite true; I didn’t just want to go and see it, I wanted to go and feel it. To stand before it and hear what my guides had to say and to share.

So of course, the first afternoon we arrived in Paris, my wonderful friend Rebecca trekked to the Louvre with me and headed off to search for the Code of Hammurabi. Because that’s what friends do!

What unfolded was bigger than I possibly could have imagined, and made me wonder if that’s why Spirit had been nudging me to go to Paris for so long. But don’t let me get ahead of myself, because before we get into my experiences with it and what I believe they mean for all of us, let me share a little about the Code itself.

What is the code of Hammurabi?

If you haven't heard the name of this object that I felt determined to cross the channel to visit, then let then, let me assure you you're not alone; the Code of Hammurabi isn’t exactly one of those artefacts everyone talks about regularly!

The code is an ancient artefact, created around 1750 BCE when the laws of an ancient Babylonian king of that time — Hammurabi — were inscribed into a large basalt stele.

Though the code isn’t the oldest legislative document we’ve found (that honour belongs to the Code of Ur-Nammu, said to have been created in around 2050 BCE), it is the most complete, and offers a fascinating insight into not only the laws but the structure of society in what was arguably one of the most dominant societies in the world at that time.

At the top of the stele is an image of the king himself being handed the laws by the Babylonian sky god Shamash. Meanwhile, the rest of the stone is inscribed, front and back, with many, many cuneiform letters, all spelling out 282 different laws of Hammurabi’s kingdom.

Many years ago, the Code of Hammurabi was described to me as one of the founding documents of patriarchy. In fairness, having since read the contents, I have to say that it wasn’t quite as patriarchal as I had expected.

Don’t get me wrong, 99% of the laws refer to “he”, “him” and “man” specifically, and include clauses such as: “If a man strike a free-born woman […and] the woman die, his daughter shall be put to death” (clauses 209-210); and: “If a "sister of a god"¹ open a tavern, or enter a tavern to drink, then shall this woman be burned to death” (clause 110).

However blatantly misogynistic the Code of Hammurabi may or may not be, while reading the document, you certainly get the impression that women in Hammurabi’s Babylon were definitely second-class citizens.

And so, in all of my work with the ancient energetics of feminism, I’d known that the Code of Hammurabi was something I wanted to see for myself. But for the longest time I had no idea of how to actually do that.

When Paris calls…

It’s a few years now since I began to be told that I needed to go to Paris. But for at least the first couple of years, it wasn’t a trip I could take for both financial and family reasons.

And so last year I gave the Universe a bit of a challenge. Rebecca and I were trying (and failing) to get tickets to see Sam Fender live here in the UK when I declared out loud “you know, if you really want me to go to Paris then you could help us get tickets there instead.” Less than five minutes later we had two tickets for the Paris gig and the pressure was on to make the rest of the trip happen.

Even then though, I wasn’t sure why I needed to go to Paris.

Until, during a conversation with a friend about the Code of Hammurabi, I learned that the original stele was housed right there in the Louvre.

Well, that answers that question.

I should add that, even aside from visiting the Louvre (where I could easily spend a whole day), the trip to Paris was amazing. I loved the city, adored the food and am already wondering when I can go back to just wander the streets and write.

Energetically too, the past life flashbacks I had elsewhere in Louvre, my experience with Joan of Arc in Notre Dame, and the deeply potent download offered by the Primal Mothers in the Sacré Coeur cathedral — more on that last one in a post to paid subscribers this weekend — and more were absolutely heart and life changing in their own right. Maybe those are stories we’ll talk about another day. But for now, back to the Code…

The Code that hid from us

You might laugh at the idea a huge ancient stone hid from me but honestly, it feels true.

The afternoon we arrived in Paris, Rebecca and I spent ages trailing around the Ancient Mesopotamian section of the museum.

We found loads. I could, and one day may well, talk for hours about the alabaster bowl that came from the temple of Ishtar. But right now, just know that they were amazing. The Code of Hammurabi, though? That seemed to be completely hiding from us.

Until we asked for a little spiritual guidance towards it. And then what do you know, we walked into a room and there it was waiting for us.

I’ve had a few energy activations in my time, so I didn’t for one moment think that being in the presence of the Code of Hammurabi would be straightforward. Buuuut I also didn’t think it would be quite as big as I actually experienced.

Standing in front of the stele, I was struck by multiple different sensations. The first felt like the energy of absolute darkness — and not in a cool, dark goddess-type way that felt like a trip into the centre of the Earth or the deep cosmic void.

No, this darkness felt like a maelstrom of everything unpleasant, loud and terrifying about the world all whirling within my being. As though every cell of my outer body was being whipped up into the kind of frenzy that made me want to curl up in a ball and hide from not only the world but from anything — or everything — that was really important.

Of course I did what I always do: Anchored into the Earth and cosmos, and put out a call to my guides to help. And then I heard a voice bringing out clear and loud:

“Before you is the cornerstone upon which the world as you know it has been built.”

Then, as I stood for a moment longer — part of me wanting to run away, part of me wanting to vomit, and part of me wanting to hide — I felt something else.

When the energy shifted…

Deep within me I felt a fluttering. It was almost like the quickening of a baby in a womb but older; like something that had been stuck still for centuries and was now waiting for someone to call it back to life so it could break out and be reborn.Almost before the thought crossed my mind, sounds began to trip off my tongue in a language I couldn’t identify; one I hadn’t heard even in the wildest of my usual channelling experiences.

I whispered it at first — no one wants to get thrown out of the Louvre after all, and an arrest would definitely have put a dampner on our first day in Paris! But still the sounds came; sounds that combined into words, and words that elongated to make songs. I understood none of them, but I could feel them. Hell, I could even see them.

The sounds moved out of my lips as threads of energy that wove around the stele and into each and every one of the indentations it found. As that energy seeped into the stone, it seemed to reach into me too — touching something golden deep within me that I couldn’t quite see but could feel reaching back, brushing its fingers against those threads of energy as if promising me that it was still alive, awake, and ready to return.

I watched as the energy wove around and around the Code of Hammurabi, almost forming a double helix that moved around and above it, stretching all the way down into the Earth and all the way up into the sky above us.

And as I watched, I heard thousands of voices — some I knew and loved, and others I’d never encountered before — telling me that this was the age of a falling. That though this stone may be the cornerstone of all that has been built, when something is erected upon shaky foundations, it cannot stand firm for long.

“This will crack,” they told me. “The Earth will shake, this stone will crack, and with it will come the end of all that these words have built and all that it represents.”

I stood and watched for as long as I could, until suddenly a small crowd appeared, most of them men and two or three leaning in so closely it seemed they were trying to commit to memory every single symbol upon the stone.

I stepped away then, moving around to stand behind the stele. As I did, I felt those unknown sounds begin to trip off my tongue again and, with them, saw the etheric women who had gathered with me begin to move differently.

Arms raised and hips circling, they danced before me while the Earth herself seemed to rise up to meet them.

I watched as what looked like serpents made of the earth itself began to spill out onto the floor and move around the stele, covering its surface until they seemed to hold it, to move inside it through every possible chink in its armour.

And that’s when I heard the voice of Lilith, that guide I know so well, as she declared:

“This is the beginning of the downfall. The moment when the false gods are shown for all that they are; when the ancient mantle of kings is relinquished in favour of the true leaders. When you, when I, when we get to live in the world that should be.”

I'll be honest, as I write this now, it seems both too good to be true and wild enough that I’m doubting whether I should press publish. Yet in the moment, I felt every word of it.

I felt it, and I saw its truth with every fibre of my being.

The cracks are already there

It made me a little sad in honesty, to think that this great ancient artefact may someday be broken. Until Rebecca came over to nudge me.

“Look,” she said. “I don’t think this is as powerful as it wants us to believe. Not when there are already cracks right the way through it.”

This is my friend who tells me that she barely sees, hears or experiences spirit for herself, but there she was pointing out that the cracks are already there; that things are already falling, even as we feel that awfulness is gaining more and more of a grip on the world.

But if what I saw in the Louvre tells me anything, it’s that plans and actions are already in motion for the beginning of a new era; one that I believe will see many of the imbalanced, oppressive structures around us tumble as those who have cast themselves as gods drown in their own arrogance.

And though the richness of the earth will hold many of us through that process, those who have wrapped themselves in money rather than love; who have worked to spread fear rather than empathy will have nothing to catch them when they fall.

I’d like to tell you that I’m sorry for that. But the truth is that I for one will not grieve those structures or the people who perpetuate them. And while I may grieve the loss of great artifacts that break into two, I will not shed a tear for the loss of hubris, of toxic masculinity, of patriarchy and of oppression.

As the thought struck me, the crowd seemed to walk away again, and I walked back around to the front of the stone. Looking at it one more time, I found myself speaking out loud — and not so quietly this time.

“You will not diminish me. You will not bind me. You will not restrict me. I am free. We are all free. Freedom is ours.”

And to the beautiful golden thing at the centre of the stone itself; the energy that I know is desperately trying to get out and meet us all, I whispered one final statement.

“Freedom is yours. And I cannot wait to see you rise.”

Over the course of the next two days in Paris, I saw so much more that touched me; so much more that spoke of power and of depth, and I allowed it all to unfold within my brain.

The gold within us all

And what of that gold something within me that reached out to be touched? Well, that I’m still working to fully understand.

But I can tell you that I’ve come back from Paris a changed woman. That already I’ve actively stepped away from some of the work I know is no longer mine to do, that just this week I made big steps towards the business — and life — I’ve always dreamed of creating.

I can tell you that in the past week I’ve noticed threads of awareness weave together within my consciousness that previously had felt completely hidden from me. And that I feel different; both more deeply surrendered and more able to take the big actions as I’m called to them.

But I don’t think the gold energy is only mine to tap into. I think a version of it lives within each and every one of us, just waiting to be called back to life.

And so right as you read this, I invite you to place a hand upon your body - wherever feels right and true to you - and remind it of these words:

“WE WILL NOT BE DIMINISHED,

WE WILL NOT BE BOUND,

WE WILL NOT BE RESTRICTED,

WE ARE ALL FREE.

I AM FREE, YOU ARE FREE.

FREEDOM IS OURS, AND IT IS THE END OF ALL THAT TELLS US OTHERWISE.

Know you don’t need to know what happens next; don’t even need to have an end goal in sight for yourself. Just simply say the words, declare your freedom, and allow that golden power within you to rise again.

Because it will. If you ask me, it already is.

After all, if I learned one thing from standing in front of the Code of Hammurabi, it’s that this ancient artefact speaks of a system and a world that has had its day. And one that is almost ready to give way to a new era which, even now when it feels that so much is being lost, is already on its way to being born.

P.S. Some other things to share

Yes, even after that lengthy post, I have more to share. So let me give you a head’s up on some of the things going on in my world right now:

• Fancy experiencing the wild and weirdness of my energetic work for yourself? There are now less than four months to go until Project Earthwork gathers in Glastobury to journey with the Grail Gates of Gaia and I’d love you to join us there.

• Would I have shared details of this huge experience without having talked to Sarah Lloyd about my Shameless Stories first? Perhaps, but I likely wouldn't have felt so confident.

• Finally, don’t forget there is a paid section of this page, where I’ll be sharing details of my Sacré Cœur Primal Heart activation later this week! Click on the button below to learn more.

1. What defines a “sister of god”? Some think this was a priestess and others a prostitute; something that could and may well be an entire post on its own another day.